A Roadside Prayer, An Unexpected Answer

Sometimes, a moment that seems small to us turns out to be much bigger than we realize. A conversation on the side of the road. A prayer offered in the middle of a difficult situation. A phone call from someone who cares. God can use all of these things to remind people that they are not alone.

Today, Brandy is sharing a story about the power of a roadside prayer — and how compassion can make a difference when a family is facing something frightening and unfamiliar.

Back in July, Sowers4Pastors was hosting a visiting team from Edgewater Alliance Church. After the day’s VBS program, Brandy and the team went looking for Pastor Lorenzo. They traveled to the village where he lives, expecting to spend some time talking with him at home. Instead, Brandy spotted him riding down the road on the motorcycle he had received with help from S4P’s motorcycle ministry.

“I got happy and excited when I saw him,” Brandy recalled. “We stopped him and spent some time talking on the side of the road. Pastor Lorenzo said he was on his way to preach at a church in a different village. He was on duty. I was excited to see him doing the work he has been called to do. During the time that we visited with him, Pastor Lorenzo shared about a situation in his life.”

The situation was weighing heavily on Pastor Lorenzo and his wife. Their daughter had been diagnosed with cancer in the United States and was in the hospital receiving treatment. Because she was so far away, her parents were understandably worried. She had no family with her in the States and was going through this frightening experience largely on her own.

Lorenzo’s wife, in particular, was struggling with the distance and uncertainty.

As Brandy pointed out, there are significant differences between the healthcare systems in Honduras and the United States. Pastor Lorenzo and his wife had no personal frame of reference for what a hospital in the States would be like. They were imagining a poorly equipped facility where family members might be expected to provide basic care and necessities for their loved one. Without knowing what was happening day to day, they had plenty of reasons to worry.

So, there on the side of the road, Brandy and the VBS team prayed with Pastor Lorenzo.

“It was a good, but emotional moment,” Brandy said.

And then life moved on. The team continued its work, and Pastor Lorenzo continued his ministry. But the prayer — and the need behind it — had not been forgotten.

Two weeks later, S4P was hosting a team from Lighthouse Church. Brandy shared the situation with Pastor Lorenzo’s daughter with the team members. One woman was particularly moved by the story. As a healthcare worker herself, she was in a position to do something practical: she contacted the hospital to get more information and help the family understand what was happening.

Sometimes compassion looks like praying with someone on the roadside. Sometimes it looks like knowing whom to call and what questions to ask.

A few weeks later, Brandy spoke with Pastor Lorenzo again. At first, Brandy didn’t quite understand why the pastor seemed to be feeling so much better about his daughter’s situation. After all, the family had tried repeatedly to obtain a visa so Lorenzo’s wife could travel to the United States to be with her daughter. They had been scammed once and denied by the U.S. Embassy twice. Eventually, they gave up on the possibility of making the trip.

None of that sounded particularly encouraging.

But Pastor Lorenzo explained that someone had been calling the hospital to check on his daughter. Since those inquiries began, the hospital staff had been more compassionate and attentive toward her. Pastor Lorenzo didn’t know exactly what had happened behind the scenes or who had made the difference. But he knew that things had changed.

“I don’t know what she said or who did it, but I know that God answered our prayers,” he said.

His daughter is expected to have surgery this month, if she has not already undergone the procedure. The fact that people in the United States are praying for her and taking an interest in her care has brought encouragement to her and to her parents. They still face a difficult journey, but they no longer feel quite so alone in it.

“Maybe it’s a small gesture to call or email a hospital to check on her,” Brandy said, “but it is an answer to prayers. Lorenzo is full of gratitude. Thank you to all of the people who pray for the pastors here. The prayers work.”

It’s worth pausing over that. The woman who contacted the hospital didn’t need to solve the entire situation. She couldn’t take away the cancer diagnosis, erase the distance between a daughter and her parents, or guarantee an easy outcome. But she could make a call. She could ask questions. She could help ensure that someone who was far from home knew that people cared about her.

And that small act mattered.

Pastor Lorenzo had prayed that his daughter would not feel alone. Through a roadside prayer, the compassion of a visiting team member, and the concern of people willing to reach out, his family received a reminder that they had not been forgotten.

“I wanted my daughter to not feel alone,” Pastor Lorenzo told Brandy. “God is answering my prayers.”

We may never know all the ways God works through a prayer, a conversation, or a simple act of kindness. We may not even realize when we have become part of the answer to someone else’s prayer.

But we can show up. We can listen. We can pray, and when there is something practical we can do, we can do that, too. Sometimes the beginning of an answer to prayer happens right there on the side of the road.

 - posted by Christi